Saudi Arabia Asks Banks for Proposals to Refinance $10bln Loan

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Saudi Arabia has asked banks for proposals to refinance its $10 billion international syndicated loan and to help the sovereign raise funds through other means, the country’s debt management office said on Sunday.

In addition to the request for proposals (RFP) on the loan refinancing, the government has issued RFPs covering further US dollar debt capital market issuance and financing supported by other countries’ export credit agencies, the office said, according to Reuters.

The refinancing of the loan, which was raised in 2016, will include a repricing of the facility and the extension of its maturity to 2023 from 2021. An Islamic finance tranche using a murabaha structure will be added to the loan.

The plans are a step toward Saudi Arabia’s ambition of establishing a prominent position in international debt markets as part of its economic reforms, claimed Fahad al-Saif, president of the debt management office.

”We look forward to a satisfactory conclusion of the process over the coming months,” he said.

The Saudi government started issuing debt in international markets through loans and bonds two years ago in order to refill state coffers hit by a slump in oil prices.

Riyadh has been under tremendous financial pressure due to its expensive military intervention in its southern neighbor, Yemen, which started in late March in a bid to undermine Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and bring fugitive former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, back to power.

More than 13.000 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured in Yemen since March 26. The strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.